John McCrady
| John McCrady | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 11, 1911 Canton, Mississippi, United States |
| Died | December 24, 1968 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Art Students League of New York, University of Mississippi, New Orleans School of Art |
| Known for | Painting, Silkscreen |
| Movement | regionalism |
| Awards | Art Students League of New York scholarship, Guggenheim Fellowship |
John McCrady (September 11, 1911 – December 24, 1968) is a Louisiana painter and printmaker. McCrady was born in Canton, Mississippi and was raised in the American South. After winning a scholarship from the Art Students League of New York for his "Portrait of a Negro," McCrady studied art with Thomas Hart Benton and Kenneth Hayes Miller. McCrady went on to become one of the best-known twentieth-century southern artists and was known for depicting scenes from the South, particularly images of southern African Americans. He also founded the McCrady Art School in 1942 on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
McCrady's father was an Episcopal minister named Edward McCrady, and his mother was Mary Ormond Tucker. They lived in Greenwood, Mississippi, Hammond, Louisiana, and settled in Oxford, Mississippi in 1921 when Edward McCrady accepted a position to teach philosophy at the University of Mississippi. At 21 John McCrady left Mississippi and studied at the Arts and Crafts Club of New Orleans School of Art. He also studied at the Art Students League of New York, and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1938 McCrady married Mary Basso, a classmate from the New Orleans School of Art. They had a daughter three years later. In 1942 he opened the John McCrady School of Art; his students included Ida Kohlmeyer, Rolland Golden, and Robert Malcolm Rucker. In 1968 McCrady died suddenly after being diagnosed with cancer.
At twenty-one John McCrady studied art at the Arts and Crafts Club of New Orleans School of Art. From 1930 to 1932 McCrady attended the University of Mississippi and took courses at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. McCrady took courses at the New Orleans Art School in 1932. McCrady won a scholarship in 1933 to the Art Students League of New York after submitting "Portrait of a Negro" a portrait of an African American man. In New York City, he studied with Kenneth Hayes Miller and Thomas Hart Benton. Benton’s sinewy anatomical style influenced McCrady’s work, while Miller introduced McCrady to a multistage technique used to paint oil transparencies over a tempera underpainting—a technique McCrady continued for the rest of his life. McCrady developed a style in line with the Regionalism movement; he often painted the religious and social life of African-Americans and, received positive reviews for his work.
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